


Platonic Sleepover Massacre

by tvparty18



Category: Community
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-16 00:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvparty18/pseuds/tvparty18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot, that's all mine. Everything else belongs to Dan Harmon and NBC. "Platonic Sleepover Massacre" belongs to The Bled, from their album Silent Treatment.</p>
<p>Author's Note: Takes place between Season 1 and Season 2. Unbeta'ed. Thanks for reading!</p>
    </blockquote>





	Platonic Sleepover Massacre

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot, that's all mine. Everything else belongs to Dan Harmon and NBC. "Platonic Sleepover Massacre" belongs to The Bled, from their album Silent Treatment.
> 
> Author's Note: Takes place between Season 1 and Season 2. Unbeta'ed. Thanks for reading!

_"Yeah, you even sleep over sometimes, but we stay in our clothes. I'm only there so that you're not alone."- Bright Eyes  
_

The first time Jeff sleeps over at Annie's she can't sleep at all. It's a Tuesday night and she's more than a little confused when her doorbell rings at 12:30. She had been up, of course, studying for Wednesday's Sociology test but she'd be lying if she told you a midnight visitor didn't make her nervous. She was living on her own for the first time and her mother had put gruesome ideas in her head about a young, vulnerable woman living alone. So when Annie peaks through the peephole, she is relieved to find Jeff on the other side.

However, as soon as the door opens, her relief turns to slight worry and quickly to frustration. They're a couple weeks into September now and he hasn't spoken to her outside of study group more than twice (which could have something to do with the right hook to his nose but that had nothing to do with "the kiss"). In June, they got coffee to discuss "the kiss" and Jeff's apparent "lack of judgment" and Annie's "frivolity as a result of living in the moment." She didn't see him again until August when Pierce threw himself a birthday party and Annie wound up sitting next to Jeff at the picnic table. When their knees wouldn't stop touching under the table, she got up quickly and started doing the dishes, despite Pierce's shouts of "that's Troy's job!"

So now here he is, at 12:30 on a Tuesday (Wednesday, really), leaning against her doorframe with his head hanging slightly. She can tell almost instantly that he's drunk mostly because the doorframe is supporting him (because he can hardly hold himself up) and he has sunglasses on, despite the fact that it's the middle of the night and he's inside.

Annie purses her lips and crosses her arms all the while attempting to stop her heart from beating so fast.

"What're you doing here, Jeff?" She taps her foot lightly, impatiently waiting for his response.

He raises his head and she suppresses a giggle when she realizes how crooked his glasses are. "ANNIE!" he shouts, "I'VE MISSED YOU! AND THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING CONSIDERING MY NOSE IS PERMANETLY CROOKED!"

Before he can say anything else to wake up the neighbors, she's dragging him inside and locking the door. He turns himself around in a circle, taking off his sunglasses and taking in her tiny apartment before focusing intently on the sofa. He settles himself down with a small struggle. Her sofa is on the smaller side and he has to adjust and readjust himself to get in a comfortable position. Annie watches him for a minute until he rests his head on the armrest and lets his legs dangle at the knees off the opposite side.

"Jeff, I saw you yesterday and your nose isn't crooked." She says matter-of-factly as she grabs a blanket from the hall closest.

"Huh?" He asks with a slight scratch in his voice.

"You said you missed me." She hands him the blanket and he can't quite figure out how to unfold it so she winds up taking it from him and tucking him in while he kicks off his shoes.

"I did! I do!" He slurs, "I feel like I never see you anymore." He starts mumbling about books and cardigans and long legs for such a short girl while she walks to the kitchen and gets him a glass of water.

"Where's your phone? Your car keys?" She asks as she places the glass on the coffee table in front of him.

His eyes are closed and he's attempting to nestle his head into the crook of sofas where it meets the armrest but she can hear him mumble.

"In your pocket?" she asks, speaking loudly as if he doesn't understand English.

He nods like a child and pulls the blanket closer to his chin. Jeff makes no attempt to retrieve the things from his pockets and Annie considers doing it herself but is still pretty angry at the fact that he drunkenly showed up in the middle of the night.

"Fine, sleep on them." She whispers. "I hope your keys...permanently indent your thigh." She wishes she could muster an actual threat or insult but that's all she's got at this point until she actually starts thinking about his thighs (then his hips, then his…well, you get the idea) as she's walking into her bedroom. Then she just gets more frustrated and spends the rest of the night alternately damning Jeff and herself.

She sleeps on and off, unable to calm her brain that is still filled with a dull anger. How dare he do this to her! He's not even her friend. "Well then, what is he?" She keeps asking herself. To which her only response can be, "He's Jeff Winger. He does this to girls all the time." "No," she corrects herself, "he doesn't. He will drunkenly leave a girl's place but he never drunkenly shows up."

Around the time the sun starts coming up, she hears her front door slam. In the living room the blanket is folded on her coffee table with a note scribbled on a magazine subscription flier, "Thanks, Annie, for putting up with my shit. Sorry for everything. Jeff." He even put the water glass in her dishwasher. She considers going back to sleep but sits on the sofa and overanalyzes his note until it's time to leave for class.

He's fifteen minutes late and when he finally shows up, he's got on his signature sunglasses, nursing the biggest cup of coffee Annie's ever seen. He walks by her desk and gives her the slightest nod and whispered "thanks." Nothing else is said throughout the rest of the day but when Jeff complains about a weird cut on his thigh, Annie can't help but smile to herself. What she misses, however, is the little wink Jeff makes in her direction.

The second time Jeff sleeps over at Annie's, neither remembers actually falling asleep. It's Halloween and Britta decides to throw a party. It's the first time Annie gets drunk. She starts out slow, sipping some mixed drink that Troy makes for her but after her second one, they start to go down easier and then Annie becomes more adventurous in her drinking until finally she's accepting whatever is offered to her. Abed notices that Jeff watches Annie all night until around 1:00, when her make up is smeared and she's carrying one of her shoes in her hand. It's around this time that Jeff strategically takes the red cups of alcohol out of her hand and replaces them with red cups filled with water. By 1:30, Jeff's arm is around her shoulders and he's reassuring everyone that he'll get her home okay. Abed's the only one who notices the smile playing at Jeff lips.

What Abed doesn't see is what happens after: Jeff having to pull over on the side of the road so Annie can dry heave and Annie's fight to get out of the car by herself, which only ends when she realizes she actually can't get up and reaches for Jeff's arms like a toddler asking to be picked up.

Jeff thought the fight out of the car was bad until he had to help her out of her costume. She insists, through slurred words, on undressing herself and Jeff respects those wishes by waiting patiently on the arm of her sofa, twirling his keys in his hand until he hears a loud thud issue from behind her bedroom door.

He rushes through the door filled with panic only to find Annie laughing hysterically on the floor, tangled in the tights she had worn to the party.

"Jeff!" she hiccups and laughs at the same time which results in a snort, "Go away! I'm fine."

He laughs despite his worry, "Annie, Stevie Wonder could see that you're not okay. Let me help you."

He bends down and reaches for her, as she shouts, "No!" He backs away slightly and watches her as she struggles with the tights until finally giving up with a huff, "Fine! Help me."

He gives her a crooked smile as he helps her out of the rest of her costume and into a big t-shirt he pulls from one of her draws. Jeff walks Annie over to the bed and tucks her in. He's about to leave when he hears her tiny voice asking him to stay.

"I don't know, Annie." He says solemnly.

"Please." He looks at everything but her face because he knows she's making those goddamned doe eyes at him.

He chuckles slightly and rubs the back of his neck, "You know I can't fit on your sofa."

"You can fit in my bed." She says it so innocently that he knows immediately that she's not trying to be suggestive but Jeff takes it that way, anyway.

"That's not a good idea, Annie." The more he talks to her, the more he can feel the alcohol soaring through his own blood stream. Making sure Annie got home safe had sobered him up but the thought of her in that bed, asking him to join her was making him drunk by the second.

Annie reaches an arm behind her and rubs her hand over the empty spot in the bed. "Pleeeeeeease, the room's spinning," she begs, "what if I get sick?"

And that is the argument that wins Jeff over because what if she does get sick. She's never been in this state before; this could scar her for life. So Jeff decides to take the responsible approach and stay at least until she falls asleep. He finds a trashcan in her room and places it on the floor next to her before taking his shoes off and getting into bed. He stays as far as he can on his side but still reaches out to pat her awkwardly until they both fall asleep.

Jeff wakes up the next morning more than a little confused and is shocked to find that he is spooning someone and not his pillow, as he had assumed. It takes him a minute to realize that his plan to leave when Annie fell asleep had failed and that the small body being held under his own is hers. He slowly makes his way out of bed and tries to ignore the little whimper she makes when his body leaves. He bolts for the door but sits in his car and calls himself a jackass for ten minutes before he decides that he can't leave her like that. In an attempt to calm himself down, he drives to the grocery store up the street and gets her some Gatorade and bagels.

He waits impatiently in her living room, flipping through the channels on her TV until she wakes up almost two hours later. She looks like she's on the verge of tears as she walks into the room but he fails to notice the way she brightens for a second when she sees him intently watching CNN. She takes a seat next to him but curls up as far away as she can. Before she can say anything, he's forcing her three aspirin and the giant bottle of Gatorade. She attempts to get up and make coffee but he beats her to that as well.

"I'm so sorry," she offers sincerely as she holds the cup of coffee between her hands and looks at him with blood shot but shining eyes.

"Don't be," he swats her apology away with his hand, "it happens to all of us."

She smiles softly and shrugs, "yeah…I guess. Thanks for staying." Annie fights back the slight pink tinge that appears in her face as Jeff fights the urge to notice it. "I feel so silly making you."

He gives her a genuine smile as she takes a tip of her coffee and her shame instantly goes away, "I was glad to. Had to make sure you were okay."

She gives a sigh at his statement and he uses that as an excuse to leave. He pats her awkwardly on the knee and lets himself out with a rushed goodbye about having to do laundry or something. He closes the door behind him but she can hear his tall frame leaning against it on the other side. It's another ten minutes before she sees him getting into his car in the parking lot.

On Monday morning, everyone asks Jeff and Annie how the rest of the night went. They both answer with a shrug and a "got home okay," thankful that no one attempts to delve deeper even though Abed shoots them a suspicious look.

The third time Jeff sleeps over Annie's, they over sleep. It's December and they stayed late enough in the library studying with the group for finals but Jeff's not surprised when he gets a frantic text from Annie in the middle of the night about missing notes. Truth be told, he was still up studying when he got her text but he would never admit that. Either way, he's at her door fifteen minutes later with a six-pack of Red Bull and a pizza. She's wearing her pajamas but she has the slight crazed look of a person who hasn't slept in weeks.

They spend the rest of the night downing energy drinks and comparing notes until they fall asleep on her living room floor in a big heap of loose-leaf paper and textbooks. Annie wakes with a start and is pretty convinced it is due to a Red Bull induced seizure. She knows instantly that she is running late and is so preoccupied with finding out the time that she completely disregards the fact that her pillow is not a pillow at all but Jeff's chest. She franticly sits up, which causes her to elbow Jeff in the stomach, which causes him to wake up abruptly rubbing his belly and cursing violently.

"Jeff!" she shouts at him, plucking her cell phone from in between the sofa cushions, "we're really late!"

"Huh?" he rubs a hand over his face, "what time is it?"

"10:45! Our exam is in 15 minutes!"

His eyes are still half closed but Jeff nods and starts to pull himself off the ground, "I gotta go home and change."

"There's not enough time! I've got a shirt of Vaughn's you can borrow."

Jeff's collecting his notes and books but stops midway and looks at Annie with an odd expression on his face. "You have a shirt of Vaughn's? Did he even own a shirt? And why would it be here?"

Annie's face turns red but she's still rushing around the apartment getting ready for class, "He had like one or two, I think. And he left the one here, once because, you know…he stayed over a couple times and he had to wear one to this restaurant we went to."

Jeff's shocked but he's not sure why. Annie's a normal college student, she's allowed to have her boyfriend spend the night but the thought of Annie, perfect little Annie, doing that (Jeff can't even bring himself to think "sex") is just disturbing and wrong. This of course leads to picturing Annie and Vaughn doing just that, which leads to Annie doing that with anyone and then Annie and Jeff…and it's not so disturbing anymore.

Jeff gulps and grabs her arm, "Come on, Annie, we're gonna be late."

They make it to class just in time and everyone raises an eyebrow at a very disheveled Jeff and Annie running through the door. However, everyone seems to accept that the two were up late studying except Abed who doesn't comment at all.

For some reason, and neither are really sure why, after the third sleep over Jeff and Annie start hanging out more. It all starts over Christmas break when Annie asks Jeff if he wants to come over and watch a movie. She tells him that Britta's in Europe and Troy and Abed are busy making a documentary and Shirley's with the boys and she really doesn't have any other friends except Pierce and it goes without saying that she'd never really invite Pierce over. Annie forgets to mention that she's just assuming this information about the rest of the group and that Jeff's the first person she called.

Jeff lets her ask more than once before he agrees but that's only because he doesn't want her to know that "yes" was on the tip of his tongue before she even finished asking the first time. These occurrences happen so often that Jeff starts calling Annie to hang out. They fall asleep on her sofa a couple of times (usually with his long legs on the coffee table, head thrown back and snoring slightly over the back of the couch while she's curled up under his arm in a fetal position…not that either ever noticed) but he makes sure to leave in the middle of the night or as soon as they wake up in the morning. She often wonders why he never invites her over to his place. He never tells her that he's really afraid of letting her in. Because if he lets her into his apartment, he is letting her into his life. Annie isn't a one-night stand. She isn't going to live in the morning. It scares Jeff because he knows he wouldn't want her to leave anyway but he continues to ignore that thought and fills his head with words like "platonic" and "casual."

By February, Jeff starts to admit that he's been lying to himself. As much as he's changed over the last year and a half, there's still a part of him deep down that is very Jeff Winger. And even though he and Annie are just friends, it's beginning to feel a little bit like a relationship and that still scares the shit out of him. It scares him because he catches himself watching Annie out of the corner of his eye and feeling satisfied. Like when they're in the car and she puts her head out the window an inch or two to get a better look at the sky. It scares him because he likes going to museums now, as long as Annie goes. She took him to a weird modern art one, once, and he bought a postcard to tape to the fridge. It scares him because when he wakes up in the morning and she's curled up next to him on her sofa, he gets this urge to make her breakfast and spend the day with her and they're not even having sex. In the past, making a woman breakfast was only reserved for the special ones. Most of them just got a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crush and a cup of coffee but he wants to make Annie his grandmother's blueberry pancakes and eggs and coffee he fucking grinds himself.

Jeff gets a little nervous sometimes, when people ask about him and Annie. Britta's the quickest to comment on the amount of time the two spend together and Shirley always tries to pry. A few times, Troy and Pierce point out that they feel left out which sparks a couple group get togethers but Jeff always drives Annie (because she doesn't have a car and he lives kind of close to her and he doesn't mind driving). They always have a good time with the group but Annie looks forward to the drives home when she can flip through Jeff's radio and not pay attention to the horrible insults he whispershouts at the other drivers (but she giggles from the passenger seat because it really is entertaining to see him grip his steering wheel and shout "I hate you all" while driving behind an old couple).

It's during those times that Annie forgets that they're just friends because they've become a couple. They are Annie and Jeff ("like Troy and Abed," she argues to herself, "but men and women are rarely considered friends," she then counters). Annie's not sure why she mentions it, but when they make plans to have the group over her place for a Star Wars marathon in March she requests that alcohol be served. She doesn't get drunk, at least not like that one time, but she drinks enough to let her guard down a little bit. She can't help but notice that Jeff's been drinking too, more often then he usually does when she's around. However, she resigns that it's because he doesn't have to drive her home this time.

Much to Annie's delight, Jeff hangs around to clean up after everyone leaves. She thought she had almost failed for a while there when Shirley lingered, insisting that she should help Annie until Jeff reminded her that she was supposed to get Elijah and Jordan early the next morning. The cleaning takes quicker than Annie anticipates and when it comes time to finally say what she's mapped out and rehearsed for a month now, she can't quite do it. Jeff's sitting on her sofa nursing one of the few beers left and he just looks so perfect that she doesn't want to ruin it. But a bigger part of her needs to know. So she takes a final swig out of her beer and plops down next to him.

"How come we never hang out at your place?" Annie tries to keep her voice even and friendly.

He rests his beer on the coffee table and runs a hand over his face before looking her directly the in the eye. "I was hoping we'd never have to have this conversation."

She breaks the eye contact and looks down at her hands, "I'm sorry but I need to know."

Jeff sighs and takes a sip of his beer before putting it back down, "I'm scared."

Annie's prepared herself for every possible answer except that one. "You're scared? Of what?"

"Of you. Of everything. This 'relationship' shit is not for me. I am not programmed to have girlfriends and dates that don't end with nameless girls sneaking out in the middle of the night." Jeff pulls her chin up slightly so that she's looking at him again. "I'll always be Jeff Winger, you know."

Annie jerks her chin out of his grasp and jumps up from the sofa in frustration. "That is such a cop out! You're not that person anymore."

Jeff stands too but Annie makes sure to keep her distance because she's ready for an argument now and his height is so intimidating. "Yes I am, Annie!"

"No!" She shouts and is startled by how loud her voice is, "we have practically been dating since Winter break! The old Jeff Winger would have never put up with that."

"We have not been dating," as soon as he says it, he knows he's wrong. "Well...maybe, kind of. But you're not my girlfriend."

"I know that because what the hell kind of boyfriend won't show his girlfriend his apartment! Huh?"

"Because if I take you to my apartment, I'm showing you everything. After that it's serious." Jeff sighs and sits back down on the couch.

Annie paces back and forth in front of him, "So what you're saying is that this hasn't become serious? I think it's pretty damn serious, Jeff."

Jeff knows almost instantly that he's been living in denial since Christmas. She's right, it is serious, but by pretending that he and Annie were just friends he could ignore the idea that he actually wanted it to be serious. That he really wanted everything: the dates and the hand holding and the breakfast and the cuddling and he wanted it all to mean something.

"You're right." He says quietly but it's enough to calm her down.

Annie sits next to Jeff on the sofa and tentatively pats his knee. "Didn't turn out the way you wanted?" She's keeps her voice flat but he can see she's smiling ever so slightly.

He lets out a small chuckle. "Funny thing is... it did. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"It would be nice if we could kiss once in a while." Jeff smiles widely at how ridiculous he sounds but keeps his eyes on the ground. He feels the weight shift on the sofa and before he knows it, Annie is placing gentle kisses on the corner of his mouth.

He catches her by surprise when he turns and meets her lips. They fall asleep on the sofa, kissing and hugging and touching but Jeff's still afraid of the morning. When he wakes up on Sunday, he's uncomfortable and squished between Annie's tiny sofa and an even tinier Annie. He's still dressed from the night before and he wants nothing more than to change his clothes and get a shower but he doesn't move. He settles himself in deeper and hugs Annie closer until he falls back asleep.

The first time Annie and Jeff sleep together, he wakes up Monday morning and realizes that he doesn't have any clean clothes. When he tries to explain to Annie that he can't wear the same clothes he had on at the Star Wars party Saturday night, she laughs and reminds him that she always has that shirt of Vaughn's. Much to Annie's surprise, Jeff wears it to class (and it looks way better on Jeff, Annie proudly admits to herself).

When they walk into class that morning, everyone is pretty much used to the Annie and Jeff arrival. That is until Britta asks Jeff why he's wearing Vaughn's shirt and Abed just nods to himself as if he's proud of a completed film. Later that day, after study group had been turned into "this is what's going on with Jeff and Annie," Jeff informs Annie that she's staying at his place next time, because he's never wearing Vaughn's clothes again.

Annie coyly asks him is that's the only reason. Jeff grabs her hand and says she knows that it isn't.

The first time Annie sleeps over at Jeff's she stays for three days and Jeff realizes that he'd be happiest man in the world if she never left.

The End


End file.
